Buses are running. And here in Manhattan there's a lot you can walk that you might not normally walk, with the trains running. But getting in from Brooklyn, Queens or the Bronx to the places where people work in Manhattan, well, there are express buses, but I don't know anybody who rides them. Presumably the subways that travel over bridges rather than through tunnels will be up and running first, but that still leaves a big transit gap. (ICYMI the tunnels underneath the East River were flooded with corrosive salt water.)
I've wondered how local retail opened. The checker at my closest grocery store said that yesterday her manager picked her up, and Monday her boyfriend dropped her off, coming from 50-60 blocks uptown. So, in a pinch, cars in the urban hellhole.
Changing subjects, it's really funny seeing local news people say that the tunnels will drain or the water will recede. Eventually there's a correction, when the guy in their ear reminds them that the tunnels are watertight, so, um, no drains.
